Consumer prices steady in December

The ABA Office of the Chief Economist believes that this month’s surprise gain in job growth shows there is some resilience in a broadly easing labor market.

Business inventories in November 2025 came in at nearly $2.68 trillion, up 0.1% from the month prior and up 1.2% from a year ago, the Commerce Department said.

Household debt increased by $191 billion, or 1%, to $18.8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported in its most recent Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December 2025 were $735 billion, virtually unchanged from the previous month, and up 2.4% from a year ago, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but...

The ABA Office of the Chief Economist believes that the January report points to a mixed near-term outlook for small-business credit demand. Improving sales expectations and solid recent capital spending support ongoing commercial activity, but elevated uncertainty and...

Consumer inflation expectations in January remained unchanged at the medium- and longer-term horizons, and declined at the short-term horizon, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s most recent Survey of Consumer Expectations.